Ghost
by DaydreamingOnPaper
Summary: Hiccup always had a tendency to find trouble, yet always managed to evade death. When it's Astrid who ends up in danger, though, he isn't as lucky. What will happen when he sacrifices himself for her? T for caution. Bad summary. Death!Cup fic (though with a happy ending later on).
1. The Battle

Hiccup raced to mount Toothless, the heat of a battle roaring all around him. He had always been there to catch Astrid, and he wasn't about to drop her. As soon as his foot his the pedal, the two were rocketing towards the terrified blonde. They had quite a distance before she made contact with the ground, but she was so far away. Hiccup cursed into the wind, raging at the invaders lining the shores of Berk. He couldn't tell through the fog and the smoke who they were, as they'd been a sneak attack, but it didn't mean he couldn't hate them.

Finally the duo were approaching Astrid. Hiccup looked to the side and saw a frantic Stormfly hovering, unsure of what to do to help. Instantly the Haddock boy hatched a plan to get down quicker. Locking Toothless' tail with a lever he'd put in only a few days before, he jumped and snatched the blonde from the air.

Her fear was replaced by shock. "Hiccup?!" He didn't even bother acknowledging her cry, keeping his eye on his target: Stormfly's back. The two landed with a heavy force, grunting and clinging the leathery saddle to stay on. Hiccup shook his hair out of his eyes, and made a mental note to make a helmet for cases like this where the wind would be intense. He saluted his awed girlfriend before slipping from the saddle, where Toothless was waiting before in a wobbly glide.

Once he was safely positioned and the automatic tailfin had been dislodged, he called to his riders. "Get to the docks! We need to create a barrier with our blasts. Ruff, Tuff! I need you two to get us started using Barf's gas!"

The other five did as he asked, with no questions whatsoever. He may consider himself to be a peacekeeper above all else, but when it came down to it he was great at leading them into battle. Within only a few minutes, they had created a barricade of smoke and fire to successfully keep more enemy ships from attempting to dock. Two had already gotten through, allowing the soldiers to get into the town and fight on the ground where they were more powerful.

"Hiccup! I need you kids to take out that smaller ship out in front; the catapults are making it hard to get to the main battle ship! Think you can handle it?" Stoick called out from below them, standing on the wooden planks of the dock.

"We're on it! C'mon, Toothless!" They flew off, the others not far behind. He then called,once again, to his friends. "If we come in close to the sides, we won't be in their range. We have to hurry, though, or they'll be able to take the shot!"

The dragons did as told and flew in right next to the hull of the ship. Unfortunately, the attackers had a trick up their sleeves. A few of the warriors on deck pulled out small silver containers. They threw a few into the air, which exploded with such a force that it seemed to rattle the riders' brains. After the warning shot, they aimed at the closest dragon, which happened to be Astrid. Pushing Toothless to speed up and warn her, Hiccup smirked; usually he was the one who attracted trouble, but it seemed like today the tables had turned.

He tried calling over the sounds of explosions and shouting, but to no avail. He held his breath, fearing that he wouldn't make it in time to warn her that she was being used for target practice. But then he saw his chance. Reaching down once more to lock Toothless' tail, he began standing up surfer-style.

"Ready for round two, bud?" The Night Fury snorted, hoping his rider would be careful, yet knowing it wasn't quite in his vocabulary. "Make sure Astrid's okay before you come to catch me, okay?"

With that, he jumped towards the blonde yet again. Time slowed down; one of the men had released their little explosives, and it was whirring towards the now wide-eyed girl. Hiccup had hoped that she at least would have been oblivious if she were going to be hit; it would have been a little less painful to watch. But then, he made a decision. She wasn't going to be hit; he was. He extended himself as much as he could, arching his body slightly to come into contact with the bomb as opposed to the girl herself.

Pain. That's the first thing he registered. Then Astrid yelling; no, screaming. There was no anger in her voice, only sadness. Then he felt cold. The cold started to weigh down his clothes and fill his mouth. Ah, he knew what this was. He'd fallen into the ocean. Next to him, he could hear something large scrambling around. Hiccup opened his eyes painfully, to see what was approaching him. It was Toothless, trying to help his rider out of the water. The boy smiled, though it stung to do so, at the dedication of the Night Fury. He allowed himself to be rescued, taking off into the smoggy sky to finish the fight.

"Snotlout, Fishlegs! Set those things off while they're still on deck; Ruff, Tuff, go for the sails. Astrid...come with me." His voice was slurring, and it was obvious he was in pain. She nodded, almost spastically, and followed him down to land on Berk. Once they had dismounted, Hiccup shuffled over to the girl, limping about as though everything hurt. And honestly, it did.

"Hiccup are you-" she never got to finish. He hugged her with full force, catching her off-guard. She returned the hug, using as much energy as she could muster.

"Astrid, promise me you'll be safe."

"I will, but why-"

"Ok. You know I love you right?"

"Oh, wow. I- I Uh, love you too, I guess. But why-"

Once again, she was cut off. With courage she should've guessed he'd had, given his display in battle, he lunged in for a kiss. It was short and sweet, and full of some unknown meaning meaning. Only after he fell into her arms, with a soft moan, did she realize what was happening; she began to tear up, despite her being recognized as one of the most fearsome Vikings out of the teens. She frantically felt for a pulse, finding nothing of the sort. Only then did she understand what his words had meant. Only then did she understand what his kiss had meant. He knew he couldn't have simply come out and said what he was thinking: "Goodbye."


	2. A Funeral for a Very Special Boy

Astrid didn't remember anything else that had happened after that. Nothing mattered after she realized Hiccup was gone. It was such a surreal thought; the worst thing had been that it was saving her that he had gone. Through her tears, she began to recall fuzzy frames of memory, piecing together to form a basic image about what happened. Stoick of course had gone berserk, as did Gobber and the other riders. They'd one based off pure, rage-filled adrenaline. Then they all came over. It was terrible seeing them all break down, even the dragons. After explaining to them how Hiccup had died due to one of his stupid acts of heroism, she stopped making eye contact. It was evident they felt bad for the Hofferson girl, though none blamed her in the slightest.

Except for herself.

Astrid blamed herself for being the one he died over. After years of narrowly avoiding death, he had gladly accepted. And for what? Just to keep her out of danger, for at least a minute more.

It had taken practically the whole of Berk to remove Hiccup from her arms. Astrid didn't want to have to look down; she knew that when she did, her fears would be confirmed. In the end, it was actually the desperate forms Toothless and Stoick that managed to talk her into releasing the boy. She felt she owed it to them. When she took in his lifeless body, she almost screamed. He had the telltale signs of death written over him; pale, lightless eyes, and extremely cold. But then she also noticed what she wished she'd seen sooner. Burns from the blast, scars and scrapes, plus evident bruises and bleeding. Maybe if Astrid had been more attentive, he could've been saved. If she'd just open up her eyes and see that he wasn't alright.

But she hadn't.

And now she had to deal with the consolations and mourning of the village. She had to comfort Gobber, who was at his wits end over to the side. She had to keep living.

Without Hiccup.

Later on, she knew she'd have to watch him sail away, too. Watch as everything she never knew she needed, until just months before, floated away. She had to watch him burn, this time painlessly. Two times in one day was just terrible.

As the sun began to set, the weeping town came together to say one last goodbye to the dragon rider. The only sound to be heard besides the muffled sobs and whispers of denial was the howling of Toothless. Down by the water's edge, Stoick and Gobber worked carefully on preparing Hiccup's ship. On it they placed a few of his most prized possessions: a drawing of the academy members with their dragons; a prototype for one of his smaller inventions; and lastly, one of Toothless' old saddles. The Nadder toy he owned, his helmet, plus countless other models and drawings were left back at home. They had decided unanimously to keep them to remember him by, some Vikings even suggesting the creation of a holiday in his honor.

After everything was placed, everyone from the academy and Gobber lined up to await the chief's arrow. The chief solemnly stepped up, and placed the arrowhead into a fire created by the deceased boy's dragon. The Night Fury's flames flickered in a mystic blue light, offering a special atmosphere for an undeniably special Viking. Silently, the speck of plasma flew over until it made contact with the ship. The slowly floating vessel began to spark all over, as Stoick began his speech.

"May...may the Valkyries welcome you and lead you through Odin's great battle field- no. This is wrong." The crowd stirred, afraid the chief was too stricken with grief to continue the customary memorial speech. Gobber even instinctively reached his hand up to his friend's shoulder, only to draw it back as he continued. "Hiccup was not just any Viking. He accomplished more in a few weeks than any of us did in three hundred years. We owe him everything; I only wish we'd seen it sooner. Even among the gods, Hiccup deserves to be treated with the utmost praise and respect." A few braver members of the crowd nodded, further shaking out the loose tears. "No palace in the afterlife is good enough for him, our little peace keeper. I just wish we hadn't waited so long to see that all we needed...was a little more Hiccup."

No one, not even Mildew questioned the unorthodox nature of the speech. It was customary to give a small goodbye afterwards, but generally the official speech was to be given first. But this was Hiccup they were talking about. He wasn't exactly a "by the book" kind of Viking; the only thing you could ever be positive of, given his nature, was that he was sure to please. So, with no arguments, the academy and blacksmith released their now-flaming arrows after Stoick's.

"Goodbye, Hiccup..." Astrid whispered.

Gobber wiped his eyes forcefully and turned to the crowd. "C'mon everyone, this is Hiccup we're talking about! He'd probably want us to laugh about how big of a dork he was when he was here, not cry about how he's gone now!" Even through his mini motivational speech, Gobber choked a bit when he admit that Hiccup was in fact gone. The message was received nonetheless, and soon the tears had dried and instead stories of the great times they had with the boy were filling the docks. Astrid regretted for the billionth time that night that they had only known the real Hiccup for a short time.

Eventually the memorial had died down, as the last sightings of Hiccup's ship faded in the distance. The inconsolable, though fighting for the Haddock boy's sake to think positively, could not help but remain until the last ember flickered and the stars adorned the sky.

None of the stragglers questioned whether what they were doing was reasonable; Hiccup's memory deserved this small token of devotion, even if it would only really mean anything to themselves.

Out on the water, the flames flicked through the woven threads covering the body lazily. It was utterly peaceful, especially given the circumstance. Everything swayed as one, cracking and splashing in a melodious tune worthy of someone this special. So special...

Special enough that there really would be no suitable place in Valhalla for such a Viking. The usual journey up to the table of kings was deemed unfitting for Hiccup. He would not be rewarded with his deserved freedom in this way. Instead, he would stay on Berk. He would be given a chance at continuing life, if he could crack the code himself. Until then, he could watch...

Hiccup would be special, even in the afterlife.


End file.
